Article by
Barbados Today

Published on
September 7, 2016

The Barbados Football Association will soon have a new national coach and technical director, says president Randolph Harris.

Speaking this afternoon with Barbados TODAY, Harris said that through the newly implemented FIFA Forward Programme they had interviewed a number of overseas-based coaches who have shown immense interest in working with the national team.

BFA president Randy Harris (FP)

He explained that even though Barbados had coaches that were equal to the task of coaching the national team, these individuals were taken up with other responsibilities outside of football.

“We are in discussion with a number of coaches in relation to taking over our national programmes for both men and women. We have had some interviews and people showing interest to come to Barbados and work with our national teams through the new FIFA forward programme where they are financing a number of new things and we are in the process of discussing with a number of people the possibility of taking up a position as coach of our national teams in Barbados.

“We are looking to train a number of Barbadian coaches that we are going to select. But the challenge with that is the coaches in Barbados of worth are working in other areas besides football and so that presents a challenge sometimes. But we are looking for a coach and we have had a number of people who are highly qualified showing an interest to work in Barbados. The board has actually agreed to a number of coaches who have been through the certification process of CONCACAF to continue working to develop themselves and also to get higher certification. Those coaches would be persons who would have done the C and D licence coaching course,” Harris said.

Though he did not give details as to who those individuals were Harris assured that the two vacancies should be filled by January 2017 with the assistance of FIFA. He added FIFA would only finance these projects if the applicants were fully qualified.

According to Harris, it was imperative that the BFA had a coach and technical director in order to get funding from FIFA and take football forward on the island.

The last time the BFA had a technical director was mid-August 2014 when they appointed Brazilian Marcos Falopa but he subsequently resigned just under a year of taking up the post. This occurred after an unfortunate episode where Barbados was disappointingly kicked out of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers for fielding an ineligible player during a home game on June 24 at the Usain Bolt Sports Complex.

Harris said whoever the next technical director was, that person would have to focus on several programmes for the advancement of football especially youth development and to generate more interest in the grassroots programmes.